After months of much anticipation, Green Energy Nevada met with the Mineral County Board of County Commissioners on Nov. 5 in hopes of securing the Babbitt land.
Izrafell Razack, who addresses himself as a representative for Green Energy Nevada, spoke to the commissioners stating that they needed to secure the wording on the bond language. Once agreed upon, the money would be transferred, but according to meetings in the past, the commissioners had given the partners of GEN 60 days in which to come up with the wording and money to finalize the deal.
To date, neither had been completed by GEN.
Sean Rowe, district attorney for Mineral County, would be on record stating that he had not received word from either the bonding company or GEN representatives until Nov. 4, a day before the meeting, after Mark Nixon, who has been involved in the GEN process, had forwarded the email onto the attorney. GEN had been instructed by the board to include Rowe in all processes of obtaining the land in order to finalize the “deal.”
Instead of closing the deal in a whole, GEN has now decided to obtain bonds on the county-owned land in three phases. Therefore needing three different bonds and three different sets of language. During the meeting,Razack would inform the commissioners that once the language was approved that GEN would transfer the money.
“We have been pretty firm on how we want to deal with Mineral County land for disposal. GEN has a multifaceted vision. Right now we can’t move forward. We (GEN) want to see it move forward, but not half-assed. Instead (GEN) is grasping for straws.”
Razack would go on to say, “We have worked with Nixon and Rowe. Nixon has been generous of his time. Any delays cost money. We wanted this done by April. Where did GEN go wrong? Tardiness in performance?”
The performance bond being sought by the commissioners is because the GEN project isn’t just a land deal. It is tied to a performance bond that requires tangible building improvements on the land equal to its appraised value.
“Without the development agreement and bond, we can’t move on. We can’t turn over the land.” Commissioner Jerrie Tipton would tell GEN.
Throughout the meeting, Razack would keep asking commissioners if they have an agreement. “If sellers believe GEN is in default – end agreement.”
He would later ask the board, “Why would GEN default if they aren’t at fault? We want to work within the agreement.”
Given every opportunity to state their case, commissioners would make a motion to extend the agreement with GEN to have the bond and money, in Mineral County hands within 30 days.
The hopes of getting the chickens onto the Babbitt land has yet to happen and currently the now adolescent chickens are current being housed in the Corey Canyon subdivision where GEN has leased three acres of private land as they work on the closure of the 130 acre parcel.
The news comes as another blow to chicken school graduates who had hoped to be to work by now. The five-week course was informative on the husbandry of chickens including the feeding, watering and breeds. Videos also showed the dark side of raising fowl in close, confined quarters.
One graduate who began to notice red flags after promises kept being broken states, “A whole lot of promises were made for the county and people. We were looking for a new beginning, a new start and a new place to live.” To date, those plans are still on hold.
Shelley Hartmann, Mineral County Economic Development director was contacted for comment but at press time, had yet to respond.
